Plate molds for the continuous casting of steel slabs consist of four separate walls which are held together by bolts and springs. Each wall consists of a steel back-up plate and a copper-containing plate which is mounted on the steel plate by means of bolts.
The copper-containing plate, which serves to contact and cool a continuously cast slab or strand, is expensive. There are two primary reasons for this. On the one hand, the grade of copper or copper alloy used for the copper-containing plate is costly. On the other hand, the copper-containing plate is machined before being mounted on the back-up plate in order to provide the copper-containing plate with cooling channels.
The copper-containing plate undergoes wear during use and must be machined periodically to remove surface irregularities. However, the number of times that the copper-containing plate can be machined is limited and the copper-containing plate must then be discarded. This increases operating costs.
Similar problems exist in mold assemblies for the continuous casting of beam blanks.
Furthermore, in certain applications, the copper-containing plate tends to develop cracks within a relatively short period of time. Once cracking has occurred, the copper-containing plate can no longer be used and must again be discarded.